COTO DE CAZA, California -- This weekend will be the very first race for thirteen year old Austin Reed driving the #14, Approved Memory, Ringers Gloves, DeJong Off-Road Racing MMR Trophy Kart at Racetown 395 in Hesperia California. Austin is the son of Dave Reed, former car owner of the NASCAR Southwest Series 2001 Championship and Grand National West Series teams.

The Reed’s purchased the Kart from Vince and Shelly DeJong who are located in Murrieta, California and will be maintaining the Kart for them. Austin is really excited about his first ever race and says that he “just wants to finish and stay out of trouble.” He is teamed up with nine year old Mitchell DeJong who is currently 2nd in the point standings. Austin’s only time in the truck thus far has been during his participation in a local 4th of July parade along with Mitchell. Dave Reed commented “the knowledge and experience that Mitchell and his parents bring will be extremely valuable in helping us with set up and getting up to speed on the Karts.”

The Reed’s noted an interesting difference in the Kart series from NASCAR as it relates to the race starts which are conducted from a stand still, much like those in the Supercross races. NASCAR uses rolling starts. This makes the hole shots key in getting to the first turn without major damage. The #14 team may decide to hang back some in order to make sure they have a truck in once piece to race all the laps.

Austin shared his recent experience of attending the race at Pomona with his Dad where he diligently watched how things were being done. He would like to follow in the footsteps of Brian Ickler and Jimmy Johnson, going from dirt to pavement. Why these two drivers? Austin commented that they both have “great skills and success” and of course, he also shares the same birthday which makes him a bit partial.

Trophy Karts are half scale replica of a high performance race trucks with a Suburu 265 cc Motor that has 10-15 horsepower, top speed is 50 MPH for more information please contact DeJong Off-Road Cars at www.dejongsandcars.com (951) 461-1933

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